Gifts and curses
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: everyone knew her name, but noone really knew her. she was their champion, thier leader, their god hidden behind the face of a clown. they hated her, called her weak, and a failure. she would show them the truth of her dark world. would they understand?
1. Chapter 1

She was their leader, their savior, their protector, and their god. A radiant presence wearing the mask of a clown. Few knew the real her, fewer understood her. Yet they called her weak and a failure. The girl Hokage would show them just how wrong they were about her.

takes place just before the chunin exam-

* * *

Sarutobi was sitting in his cushy chair, his hand absent mindfully stroking the silken hair of the thirteen year old girl leaning against his seat resting her eyes while he waited for his jounin to gather for the meeting he had called reguarding the chunin exams. It had been a rough few months for his princess. She had passed the genin exams easily enough, and had even been placed on a team, but that did little to help her when she was alone. The attacks on the Kyuubi vessel had become more frequent, and much more frightening.

Yet she had said nothing about them, chosing to stand and fight on her own rather than drag him and her Anbu guards into whatever mess she happened to find herself in. That was just the kind of person she was. He had made peace with the fact that he might one day go to see her and find her laying bloody and broken on the floor of her living room, but he still hated the thought of her suffering such a fate.

It was part of the reason that he had made her Hokage. He had given her her greatest hearts desire in the hopes that she might fight for the sake of others since she refused to fight for herself. His plan had worked out wonderfully, she no long simply sat back and took whatever punishment the villagers dished out, but at the same time she still refused to retaliate, mainly because once she was outed as the Hokage, anyone who had ever raised their hand against her would suffer enough thinking that they would be dragged away at any moment of any day, they were less likely to try anything violent against her again this way.

It was an ingenous plan on her end, but then she was always coming up with such plans. He glanced down at her head and smiled gently as he carefully brushed some of the platinum blond strands back away from her head to check the wound on her head for what seemed like the hundredth time and shook his head sadly as the room was suddenly filled with popping sounds and smoke as his shinobi appeared one by one.

He bent down and carefully lifted the resting teen up and into his lap before settleing back in his chair as the smoke slowly cleared. A kunai tucked inbetween his leg and the chair arm just in case someone realise who it was sleeping in his lap and decided to try and kill her, since no one knew that Naruto Uzumaki was actually the lovely, enchanting girl desguised as a boy in his arms.

He looked over the faces of his shinobi and studied each one of them for any signs of a threat to their true Hokage and sighed in relief when all the two of them got was curious glances. Mainly from Kakashi, Gai, Iruka and Anko.

"Lord Hokage, why is Naruto here? I thought that this was a private meeting." Iruka asked curiously as he looked at the blond and frowned as soon as he noticed the bandages around Naruto's head, slanting down to cover one of his eyes, there were dark bruises on his exposed neck, shoulder, and what looked like finger marks on his wrist. He was'nt the ponly one who notice the wounds. Kakashi was staring particulally hard at the head wound and the marks on Naruto's throat. He bared his teeth behind his mask, but the action went unnoticed because of the mask covering his face.

Sarutobi decided ot play the wounds off as a freak accident since knowing the truth would expose everything and ruin his princesses hard work. "Freak accident during training last night. He didn't feel like being by himself, something about being worried that if he went to sleep without someone around to check on him; that he might not wake up again." Sarutobi said with a small smile. He could plainly see that Gai, and Asuma were about to call him on his lie, he never could fool them like he could everyone else.

But after a second or so they seemed to change their minds and decided to stay quiet instead. The blond stirred slightly in her sleep, and reached up to claw at the bandages because they were irritating her skin, but he grasped her small wrist in his hand as she opened one eye and looked at him. She looked so tired, and beat down. Defeated almost. He felt his heart ache in his chest, he hated it when she had that look on her face. "You should'nt scratch at it, it'll only get worse if you do." He chidded the girl. She hissed as she shifted on his lap, her head hurt like hell, and her stomach was starting to cramp and make her feel sick.

"I know that, but I cant help it. It burns." Sarutobi squeezed her wrist gently in sypathy. He knew it hurt, it was'nt often that someone was held down and had currosive acid thrown in their face as a form of torture. She was lucky that she had the Kyuubi sealed inside of her or she would be dead right now. She looked from his face to the people in the room and almost growled, she climbed out of his lap and stood up on unsteady feet, and met the eyes of the shinobi with a cold look before turning and grabbing something from the floor beside the chair, a backpack from the looks of it and muttered a quick goodbye to him and walked over to the door and left, slamming the door behind her as she stepped through it.

Her actions seemed to shock the jounin in the room. They had never seen such a cold look on Naruto's face before. Iruka looked torn, he wanted ot go after the blond and see if he was okay, but that look he had seen on his little brother's face. It terrified him deep down inside.

"Lets get this meeting over with so that I can go see if Naruto is alright." Sarutobi said with a sigh.

"Lord Hokage, how did Naruto really get those wounds?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from his book for a second. Everyone else stayed quiet so that they could hear what the elderly man said about the subject.

Sarutobi nearly swore, he hated perceptive people like Kakashi, they were often too smart for their own good. "Naruto was attacked by some of the villagers. Thats all that I can really tell you since I do not know the specifics of the attack, what promted it, or the true extent of his wounds since that was a day or so ago and Kyuubi had healed much of the wounds."

Iruka gnashed his teeth and started to shake with rage. Kakashi stayed quiet although he was probably planning to start staking out Naruto's apartment just to make sure that something like this never happened again.

She had walked almost all the way back to her apartment when she ran into Shino and Hinata. "Ah, N-Naruto what happened?" Hinata studdered as she reached out to frame her face with her hands. She stared at the girl and force herself to smile.

"My apartment got broken into, and I got hurt trying to stop the intruders." She said as she gently pried Hinata's hands from her face and quietly said goodbye to them. She just wanted to go home and get some sleep while she could, before something else happened.

Hinata looked like she wanted to argue, and then looked at Shino who was frowning. He had never seen Naruto look so down before, it was strange just how distubing seeing the blond wounded like that, and smiling rattled him. He glanced at Hinata then grasped her wrist and started to drag her off. He wanted to find Shikamaru and Choji, if anyone could figure out how to cheer the blond up it was them.


	2. hiding in the woods

Two weeks after what had quickly become dubbed by the jounin as the 'incident with Naruto' Kakashi was sitting on a tree panting, he had been looking for the blond for the past two weeks, but Naruto had proved just how much of an elusive little bastard he was because every time Kakashi finally picked up his scent and started to close in the boy simply vanished into thin air and was'nt seen or heard from for days, or in this case weeks. The blond had missed training, and several missions, something that he normally didn't do, and it worried Kakashi that he was making himself so hard to find.

It was as if he had stopped caring wheather he lived or died and was trying to cut all ties with the village and the team. Kakashi had no desire to stand over the blond's coffin and speak words of comfort to people who never really cared about the boy at all as a person. He rubbed his sweating palms on his pants, anxiously and tried to catch his breath, the chunin exam was tomorrow and he had to find Naruto or his team would'nt be able to take part in it.

He sat there for several minutes wracking his brain for any places that he had'nt checked yet, that the blond might be hiding at. He was'nt sure how long he sat there when Naruto appeared in the tree above his head, the slight sound of his small feet hitting the tree limb several feet above the jounins head made the man twist his head around to look at the blond. "Naruto!" He exclaimed as he stood up so that he and the blond would be eye to eye as the kid dropped down to his knees to do the same.

Naruto's wounds had healed nicely, he noticed. There was'nt even a scar on the blond's skin. Naruto stayed perfectly still on the tree limb and waited for Kakashi to speak. "I've been looking for you." Kakashi said roughly as he clenched his fists, he suddenly wanted to hit the boy for disappearing and scaring him like he had. Naruto's eyes shifted from his face to his hands tightly clenched at his sides and a strange look flickered across his face, it was there one second and gone the next but it was enough to allow Kakashi to regain his control and reign in his temper.

"I know." Naruto finally said as he let his eyes go back to Kakashi's face. His expression was blank, a practiced look that he had been trained to have on his face when ever he was questioned by an enemy. Kakashi frowned, did Naruto think he was the enemy? Did he think that he was going to hurt him like the villagers had? Is that why he had been hiding from him? Kakashi sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets so that he would'nt be tempted to give in to his baser desire to throttle the boy.

"Then where have you been for the past two weeks?" Kakashi asked, he was more than a little intrested to know how the boy had dodged him for two weeks strait. Naruto raised his hand ot his mouth and started to bite his nails, a nervous habit that Kakashi had never seen him use before as he shrugged. Apparently that was his way of saying that he had just been....hanging around.

She bit her finger nails nervously, she was'nt really any good at coming up with really great lies, she was far better at coming up with half lies, and other things. And she definately was'nt about to tell him that she had been tracking him while he had tracked her for the past two weeks. If the man had bothered to really pay attention to what was going on behind him, he would have seen her reveil herself at least half a dozen times.

Kakashi sighed, realising that the blond was'nt going to tell him anything that he didn't want to speak of. "You know that the chunin exams are tomorrow, right?" Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded while continueing to chew his nails.

"Good, then you know that I need to give you this permission slip-" Kakashi stooped speaking suddenly and looked at Naruto as he let his hand fall away from his mouth and gave Kakshi a funny look before saying very quietly,

"Your a bastard Kakashi." Naruto then stood up and took a flying leap and slowly vanished from his sight....again. Kakashi had been so stunned to hear Naruto speak to him that way that he had completely forgotten to go after him and get him to sign the paper.

She was a ways ahead of Kakashi when she came across team eight and stopped in the tree above Kurinai's head to listen to them speak. The woman looked up at her and gave her a friendly smile. "Naruto! What are you doing here?" She asked as the blond dropped down out of the tree and landed next to her.

"Just passing by." Naruto said as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the tree behind him. The woman gave him a funny look. Something was off with Naruto, she was'nt sure why she thought that, or even what had given her that impression but something about the blond's behavior sent up red flags in her mind.

"Naruto! Your okay!" Hinata cried as she ran over to the blond and practically tackled the boy to the ground. She wrapped her arms around the boy's torso and hugged him tightly. Shino and Kiba came walking up to the blond and gave him a polite greeting as Naruto carefully peeled Hinata off of him and laid his hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair.

"You look better than the last time we saw you." Hinata said happily as she smiled at the blond. Naruto gave her a smile that seemed forced to Kurinai. Shino looked the boy over from head to toe and cocked his head. He and the others had run into Kakashi and even the third Hokage several times in the past two weeks and had been told that they were looking for the boy, odd that he seemed to disappear and reappear when ever he wanted.

He must know the slums of the village better than the back of his hand.


	3. i can always find you

The first part of the chunin exams had been fun since Ibiki had been conducting the written exam, he had served as a witness when she had been named Hikage and had been amused ot see her taking part in the written exam. Sadist that he was, he found it funny that she was already Hokage and she had never taken part in such things before. After passing some of the examinee's, they had gone strait to the second round which was taking place in the Forest of Death, and so far she was having a blast.

She had noticed some nins that stuck out more than others, that and her informants had caught wind of Orochimaru's plan to hide among the applicants and take place in the exams to get close to Sauske and check his talents out. There had been nine in all that had caught her attention, all of whom smelled very strongly of blood, and decay. Shortly after the test had begun she had seperated herself from her team and sent a shadow clone to take her place and had sent several shadow clones to check up on the rest of the rookie nine.

She had been tailing everyone while she searched for Orochimaru. So far she had found Shino, Hinata and Kiba's team pinned down by the group from Sauna. She sighed as her clone watched the brutal murders of another group before stepping out, startling two of the three sand siblings. "Was that nessisary tanuki-kun?" She asked the red head as her clone moved to stand between the sand three, and certain death for Kurinai's team if they were found.

The red head narrowed his eyes at her as he studied her. He knew that the blond standing before him and his sibling was a clone, but it was a clone with enough chakra to put up one hell of a fight and prove to be troublsome. So he said nothing although the blond held his rapt attention because of what he had called him. He had coupled a nickname with a term of endearment. Like he was precious to him or something. The thought of being called anything but a monster was unsettleing to Gaara but not all that much unpleasent.

"No, but I wanted to kill someone. What are you doing here?" Gaara asked curiously, his intrest in the blond was an almost tangible thing. The blond gave him a small smile as Shino, Hinata, and Kiba peeked up over the top of the bushes that they were hiding behind to look at her.

"Looking for some friends. Oh, here they are." She said as she turned her head slightly to look at them, the three gave her a terrified look. She gave them a gentle smile and reached in her weapons pouch to pull out a scroll that she had stolen from another group and held it up for the sand siblings to see.

"Let my friends leave here alive and well and you can have this." She said as she held it out to the red head, the boy frowned. He wanted to barter a scroll for the lives and well being of his friends, what about his own life and well being? Did he expect to be harmed for wanting to save his friends? Gaara moved forward to take the scroll. The blond refused to let go at first.

"Your word, please tanuki-kun." Gaara looked at the blond then nodded and looked over his shoulder at his siblings, they were watching the exchange with a strange, almost morbid fasination.

"You have it." Garra said as the blond slowly let go of the scroll, Garra could tell that the boy have been on alert for a double cross, and still was. She smiled at him then, the smile was so bright and dazzling that it took Gaara by suprise. The blond was an interesting person. But that was'nt why he would'nt raise his hand ot kill him, it was because he had never seen such a radiant and warm presence before. The blond was simply something that he could'nt destroy.

"One more thing before you go, tanuki-kun. I know what your village is planning, so please believe me when I say that I do not want to have to destroy your village and put you or your people in chains. The serpent will die this day and you will be unprotected. Save yourselves while you can." Gaara blinked then narrowed his eyes at the blond while his siblings paled behind him.

"We will keep your words in mind kitsune-kun." Gaara said without realising that he had called the blond by his own nickname. Kitsune, it fitted the boy since he had a kitsune's clever personality. He thought as he took the scroll and vanished with his siblings.

Kiba was the first to get to his feet once the three sand siblings were gone and looked at Naruto, the blond was chewing his fingernails as the dog nin looked him over. "Naruto, how did you find us?" Hinata asked as she figited with her jacket sleeve. The blond looked at the three before saying.

"I _always know_ where you are." They stared at the blond as if he were nuts. How was it possiable that the dunce always knew where they were? He often didn't even know where he was!

Kiba, and Shino laughed, it was just so damn funny that the boy would know their where abouts more than he knew his own. Hinata stopped figiteing as she looked at the blond. Naruto had the most peculiar look on his face. Shino stopped laughing as soon as he noticed the look and grabbed Kiba and made him look at the boy's face. Dear god, he was dead serious. He knew where they were at all the time. How? Had he been spying on them? Tracking them? It was obvious by the look on the shorter boys face that he was slightly uncomfortable speaking about anything that had to do with his way of finding people.

Yet Kiba just had to ask for a demonstration. "Prove it." He said. Naruto's entire body stiffened and his eyes became cold. The sheer amount of violence promised in the depth of that look was enough to curb Kiba's desire for a demonstration and keep Shino and Hinata quiet as they started to follow the blond away from the clearing where they had been trapped.

"It has something to do with keeping track of the people that hurt you, does'nt it Naruto? If you can locate someone at will, it makes it very difficult for them to get the drop on you, and hurt you." Hinata said after a while. The blond looked at her over his shoulder and said nothing for a second before saying.

"It actually has more to do with trying to keep everyone else from getting hurt if I'm attacked. If I know where you are, I dont have to hold back or worry that I might hurt you. It's also partually to keep track of the things that you do, so that when I'm attacked by someone....I can keep my faith in the fact that it was'nt any of you that tried to hurt me." The blond explained quietly as he led them to another clearing about two miles away from the original place and stopped.

He reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out another scroll and handed it to Shino. The bug charmer looked down at the scroll and frowned. Why was Naruto going out of his way to help them? "I have to go check up on some other people. Stay out of trouble, and watch out for the giant snakes that make their nests in the trees. I'll be pissed if you three get eaten." Naruto said as he turned to leave, but Shino reached out and grasped his wrist. A questioning look on his face.

Naruto glanced at him and mouthed, _"So we can all pass together_." To the taller boy, the determined look on his face and his silent words warming the bug charmer's heart as he let the blond go.


	4. orochimaru makes his move

Gai's team was next on her list to check up on, but they would prove difficult to get close too without fighting. Still she would find a way to manage. She had always been curious about Gai's students. they were a very well balanced team, that worked wonderfully together. Their personalities were slightly abrasive but all in all they were good kids which was why she wanted to take a chance to speak to them even if it was only for a second.

She found them nestled in the heart of a tree thicket just a few feet from a stream, resting. Neji was the first one to notice her presence since she had picked up a twig and snapped it between her fingers and waited for him to activate his Byakugan and look in her general direction. He and Lee were on their feet in an instant. "Who's there!" Neji demanded and she felt the over whelming impulse to step out and punch him in the neck so that she could watch him writh in agony on the ground as he gasped for air.

She stepped out from behind the massive tree and looked at them. Lee looked suprised to see her there. "Naruto! What are you doing here?" Lee cried as he looked at her. She took an involentary step back as he ran forward, not to attack her but to check her over for wounds. Because that was just the type of person he was, kind even to his enemies.

"Are you alright? Did you get lost?" He asked as he patted her down, checking for broken bones and such before leaning down and whispering in her ear.

"Gai sensei told me that you had been hurt a few weeks back and asked me to help him and some of the others keep an eye on you. You are unharmed, yes?" She nodded as he straitened himself to his full height and put his hands on his hips and cocked his head, waiting for some answers. She gave him a small smile and nodded her head slightly.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to drop in and make your task easier, and warn you about some people that you should be wary of crossing paths with." She said as she pulled a scroll out of the pouch hanging around her hips and handed the scroll to Lee, who then examined it and handed it off to Neji who was giving her a suspisous look.

"I was told by the third Hokage to be on the look out for a rogue nin, one of the three legendary sanin, Orochimaru has snuck into the village to put one of his plans to destroy the leaf and obtain cetain shinobi of certain blood lines. Neji, and his cousin Hinata are potental targets. So are Shikamaru, and Sauske. If you come across anyone who gives you a funny feeling, or even seems threatening in a peculiar way, you should run away as fast as you can. Do you understand?" She said sternly. Lee looked mildly suprised by the blond's worried additude.

But he didn't understand why the third Hokage had told Naruto such a thing. The blond looked at him and raised a brow. "Why would the Hokage tell a failure like you something so important, loser?" Neji asked coldly. Naruto cocked his head and vanished in the blink of an eye and reappeared after a second or so behind Neji and wrapped his slender fingers around the taller boys throat and leaned in and spoke quietly enough that Lee and Tenten had to strain to hear.

"Because I'm the _only one_ who can give you a _fighting_ chance if you run into him. And just for the record Hyuuga, I'm not as _stupid_ or _weak_ as I seem. Nor am I so _nice_ that I would let the same insult slide twice. The next time you speak to me like that, you will get hurt." Naruto let the boy go as he jumped back away from the livid brunette and looked at Lee.

"Be careful. I dont want to see Gai sensei crying over your coffins." And then he walked away without so much as a second glance at them. What intresting kids.

* * *

She was on her way to check on Shika's team when she felt one of her clones being destroyed and stopped dead in her tracks, her feet planted firmly on the branch that she had just leapt onto as her heart sped up, her dark blue contacts melting away from her eyes to run down her cheeks like tears as her eyes started to glow a feral red while her chakra leaked out a little bit. Orochimaru had just found Sakura and Sauske. She felt her finger nails lengthen slightly as she focused her chakra in her feet to accelerate herself forward into the jaws of the sepent, she just hoped that she got there before anything happened to her teammates. She would have to use everything that Sarutobi, Tsunade and Jiraiya had tought her if she was going to win and walk away alive.

Terror, he was experienceing pure alderated terror, something that he had never felt before. The feeling was mind numbing, yet his mind was working just fine despite the fact that his body was refusing to function. He managed to turn his head a bit and look at Sakura and wanted to scream with rage, she was so scared that she could'nt see anything but the face of the man who was going to kill them. Her slender body shook violently as she clutched a kunai in her unsteady hands, she was shaking so much that her grip had loosened and the blade had slipped enough to become wedged between her palms, cutting them open. The blood ran down her palms, her wrists and arms as she tried to maintain her grip on the blade.

The creepy man approached them slowly, his golden eyes slowly raking over Sauske's frozen form, then Sakura's. Sauske already knew who was going to die first...he could see it in the way the grass nin stared at Sakura's body. He looked like he was hungry, and she was what he wanted to eat. The pit of his stomach cramped painfully as he realised what the man was thinking. He was going to ravage her before he killed her, but that was'nt the most terrible part to Sauske.

It was the fact that he was going to be forced to watch, and listen to her every scream, and cry for help. And he would be helpless to stop it or save her. He closed his eyes and silently prayed that Naruto would'nt come back from his bathroom break, he didn't want him to die too. The man was reaching for Sakura's shirt when Naruto dropped down out of the trees inbetween the man and them and planted the flat of his hand against the man's chest and used his chakra to send the man flying as he pushedhim away.

Sauske stared at the blond in shock as he continued to shake, the image of the man's body sailing through the air like a rag doll and smashing into several large tree's embedding itself in the young Uchiha's mind. The blond reached out and tapped him inbetween the eyes with a glowing green finger then did the same move on Sakura and suddenly they were able to move. The opressive feeling that had held them trapped where they sat, disappeared completely.

"N-Naruto...." Sauske started to speak but the look the blond gave him stopped him cold. What was wrong with his eyes? He had never seen such blood colored eyes before. That look was almost as frightening as the grass nin's jutsu.

"Take Sakura, and go. Run as far as you can, I'll buy you time. Head for the tower. Go!" The blond said as the grass nin threw a large piece of a tree trunk off of him and slowly got to his feet. The bones in his body snapping and popping in such a way that Sauske was suprised that the man could even stand, that move should have killed him! Still Sauske grabbed the whimpering girl and looked at the blond helplessly, and saw the blond's resolve and quickly took to the trees, if he didn't stop for anything or anyone then they would reach the tower in an hour.

But Naruto didn't have an hour. He had a few minutes at best to fight the grass nin off, and that was only if the grass nin was playing with him. He gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on Sakura, he had to make it! Naruto would die if he didn't! _Please god, please help Naruto. Please, don't let him die._


	5. truths unnoticed

Orchimaru stared at the small blond, and licked his lips. That had been quite a push, to have sent him flying like that, the brat must have found a way to utilize his chakra and use it like Tsunade. And at such an young age, he was excited by the potential of the child standing in front of him. "My, my but you are rude. Have'nt you ever heard the words, wait your turn?" He chided the boy, and was slightly taken aback when he noticed the boys eyes. Scarlet red, the pupils were slits almost like a cat's pupils were and he cocked his head a bit. Could this child be the Kyuubi vessel?

He was giving off such a blood thirsty aura that it made the sanin's skin crawl. He had never felt such a frightening power before. And it was coming from this weak little genin, something was'nt right with the boy. He knew it, and he also knew that it must have been hard for the child to function normally when there was so many potential victims that he could kill. How interesting this child was. So interesting that he just might change his plans all together and take the blond instead.

"Whats your name?" the sanin asked, needing to know the name of the one he would one day possess. The blond cave him a sweet smile as his body started to glow red, his chakra was leaking out, wrapping around him as his blond hair legnthened until it fell almost to his waist, and his teeth started to legnthen to fangs.

"Haruka Saru Yuki Uzumaki. But I wont be offened if you forget, since I'm about to kill you." She said as she vanished and reappeareed behind him with her leg raised, she brought in down with enough force to shatter the ground and cause a loud explosion like noise as he lept out of the way of the blow and stared at the child in shock. Definatly another Tsunade, but the kid was'nt using half as much chakra as the med nin would have. Choosing instead to resurve as much of it as possable just in case she needed it for when she got wounded.

What a clever little girl.

* * *

Sauske callapsed just inside the door to the tower sobbing, he had heard the massive explosion that had rocked the forest from the location where he had been forced ot leave Naruto and just knew that the boy was dead. And it was all his fault for being such a weakling and a coward. He clutched Sakura in his arms and cried, even as several of the teams inside of the tower, and several jounin came running up to check him and Sakura.

Gai's team was among the ones to come and see what was going on. Lee took one look at Sakura and Sauske and knew that something truely terrible had happened, Naruto was missing. A medic team came running up with Iruka and stopped in front of the distraught boy. "Sauske? Sauske, can you hear me? Calm down and tell us what happened. Where is Naruto?" Iruka said as he dropped to his knees and took the boys tear streaked face in both of his hands and make him look at him.

Sauske shook his head and bit his lower lip until it bled, he could'nt say it. He could'nt say that Naruto was dead, because if he did then it would become reality. But Iruka was stubborn, and refused ot stop asking until Sauske screamed, "He's dead! He's dead and I could'nt help him! He was trying to save me and Sakura, was fighting off some creepy guy that had caught us. He told me to grab Sakura and run so I did!"

Iruka blinked, he had'nt heard so much self loathing and hatred in a kids voice since the first dozen times he had spoken with Konahamaru in counseling. Still it disturbed him to hear the words 'Naruto is dead'. It was so disturbing that he slapped Sauske before he even realised that he had reared his hand back to do so. Everyone looked between the two frozen, they had seen a lot of shit coming, but they had'nt seen that. And apparently niether had Sauske if the stunned look on his face was any indication at all.

Lee stood there with a calculating look on his face, had Naruto been right about his warning? Had he run into Orochimaru? "Sauske-kun, did Naruto tell you who was attacking you?" Lee asked as he dropped down to a kneeling position beside Iruka. Sauske looked at the older boy and shook his head as Iruka grabbed Lee and asked,

"Do you know something Lee? Do you know who attacked them?" Lee was quiet for a second, if Naruto had known about Orochimaru and his plans all along then why had'nt he told his own team? He frowned and looked at Sauske. Had Naruto even bother to tell him? The way he was acting would suggest not.

"Sauske, did Naruto not tell you that you were being targeted by Orochimaru?" Lee asked, he wanted to confirm his suspisions and go from there. Sauske shook his head again, his dark eyes troubled. Iruka's grip on Lee's shoulder tightened painfully drawing the boys attention back to him, the teachers face was so pale and his breathing was harsh, was he having a panic attack?

"Tell me what you know." The man demanded as he tightened his grip on Lee even more. Lee winched slightly as Iruka's fingers bit into his skin.

"Naruto came to us while we were resting several hours ago and gave us a scroll and a warning. Orochimaru has been spotted in the village and was hidden among the particapants of the exam. Naruto also gave us a list of names, people that the sanin might go after. Sauske was one of them, Neji, and Hinata were another two. The last one was Shikamaru, after that he left to go see another team, at least thats what we think he was doing. He had been tracking all of us since the begining just in case we ran into the sanin, that's all I know. I swear." Lee said as he tried to squirm out of Iruka's death grip on hsi shoulder, and hissed in releif when the man finally loosened his grip and let his hand fall to his side.

His mind working swiftly to process what he had been told. Orochimaru was in the village, Naruto knew, Naruto had been keeping track of the threat since he became aware of his movements. Did that mean that Naruto had used Sauske as bait? Had he been planning to try and prove himself as a ninja to the village by trying to get rid of one of it's biggest threats? It sounded like something the idiot would do, but if Lee was right and Naruto's warning had been on the money then Naruto was _probably_ dead by now.

Iruka took a calm steadying breath as he got to his feet and started running haphazardly toward the room where the third Hokage was. He had to be told of what had happened, and if Naruto was stilll alive they had to save him. He threw open the door to the room in the back and yelled loud enough for every jounin, chunin, and the Hokage sitting in the room everything.

"Orochimaru has been spotted in the village! Na-Naruto engaged him in a fight! Hurry!" All eyes turned to him as the third Hokage got to his feet and very calmly stormed out of the room with all of his ninja's behind him.

* * *

She panted as blood ran down in her left eye from a cut that she had sustained when the sneaky bastard had grabbed her ankle and used her face to make a permanent impression in the tree that he then used her body as a battering ram to knock it down. She smirked at him, thanks to her nearly limitless chakra reserves she didn't really feel the broken bones and the internal bleeding any more.

But it made her happy to know that Orochimaru did since she had him down on his stomach like the snake that he was, he had been trying to crawl away from her and excape for a few minutes now, but she was'nt letting him go. She sat on his chest with a malicious look on her face as she reached for his face and was slightly irritated with him when he opened his mouth and regurgitated a broad sword from some where deep in his body, the blade pierceing her small hand and narrowly missed her face, but by just so. Her cheek split open and started seeping blood.

The warm sticky liquid ran down her jaw and dripped down her chin, and ran along her throat a bit as she tipped her hand and used her chakra to break the blade and picked it up before it could clatter to the ground and put it through the sanin's neck and slowly sawed his head off as he tried to scream. The only sounds that excaped the sanin's throat were a loud gurgling sound as his lungs filled wiht blood, and his head came off, what was left of his blood spurted out of the pitiful little stub that his head had once sat on top of and splattered her face and hair, nearly drenching her in the crimson from head to toe.

She licked some of the drops away from her lips and grasped the severed head by the hair and stood up just in time to realise that she was'nt alone. More than half of the jounin and chunin of the village stood all around her, along with Sarutobi. She sighed wearily and walked up to the old man and pushed Orochimaru's head into his arms. "Consider this a birthday present. I need to lay down and rest." she said softly as he let the head fall from his hands and wrapped his arms around her as her legs went out from under her and she callapsed right there in front of him.

She had used too much chakra. That much was evident from the way she was sleeping, it was like she was one of the dead. Her breathing was so shallow, second part of the exam had been put on hold until she regained consiousness. Iruka, Kaakshi, Lee, Gai, Sauske Shino, Kiba, and Hinata had all taken up temperary residance in the room that she had been taken too after her callapse. The third Hokage and several others dropped by periodically to check up on her, and even the creepy red head from the sand village, he sat in the room with them for a while each day that passed.

Sakura was still recovering from her near brush with death and came to see if her teammate had woken up yet so that she could thank her. Yes, they had all found out that Naruto was a girl after the medics had examined her and put her to bed, and the fact that she had hidden it didn't really bother them. Sure they were curious about the whys, but Kakashi and several others seemed to have caught on to the why of it easily enough and shared their thoughts with the rest of them.

Right now all they cared about was if she would wake up again. The hours of the past few days had gone by so slowly it was driving each of them insane.


	6. as you wish

She woke up three in a half days later with a crick in her neck. She blinked a few times before she reached up to rub her neck when a gloved hand grasped hers and she quickly turned her head to look at the man holding her head, and winched when her neck popped, sending new waves of pain along her spine before fading. _Oh ow_. That had hurt. She thought as she blinked back tears. Kakashi chuckled at the look on her face before quietly closing his book and looking her in the eyes. "Your an idiot. But at least your awake." _I was worried._ He thought as he squeezed her hand gently and smiled behind his mask.

_I'm an idiot, huh. I think I should smack him. The ingrate. _She thought as the door opened and Iruka and everyone else came in to see her sitting up in the bed wide awake. Iruka, Hinata, and Sakura all let out a loud shriek as they ran over to the bed and all but smothered her to death with hugs, kisses and other things in Hinata's case, since her breasts ended up in her face. She blushed and let the girl and the other two do as they liked until Sarutobi came into the room and gave her a slow appraising look before walking over to the bed and stole Kakashi's seat after the man stood up to relenquish it.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as the three finally let go of her. She said nothing, didn't even look at him, she must have felt uncomfortable knowing that everyone in the room could see the real her.

"You need to stop hiding yourself away, Haruka." The old man said as he placed his hand under her chin and raised her head so that he could look at her eyes, they were a lighter shade of red closely resembling the color of a red rose instead of the deep feral glowing color that they changed to when she was in a rage. She hated it when people looked her in the eyes when she was'nt wearing her colored contacts, which was why he had sent someone to her apartment and to grab a few things, some extra clothes, a few pairs of extra contacts, her brush and tooth brush, some socks and hair ties.

She peeked at him out from under her bangs, the small action made him recall when she had been a little girl peeking up at him from under the hem of his robe while standing in the rain, holding her tiny little shoes in her hands while trying to stay dry. She had been so cute, and now she was beyond cute, he often had to stop himself from squealing and chasing her every where like a rabid fangirl.

That was the feeling he got as he looked at her now. He knew that part of the reason that she hid herself away was survival instinct, if she was'nt heard or seen then no one could find her and hurt her, it was also because she had been made to believe that she could'nt really trust anyone, she was very aware of them and everything they did or said, it was her wariness that made her so dangerous to them and herself. Her wariness often made it seem like she was prowling around for a fight, but the truth of the matter was she just liked to prowl around and check things out, a cats curiousity he supposed but that same curiousity got her into more trouble than one lone child should have been capable of.

"What are you thinking?" She asked as she raised her hand to chew on her nails and frowned, she had bitten them to the quick before from chewing on them so much and now they were long and sharp again, just like her hair had grown out to it's original length, from before she had cut it. It was annoying just how much the shit bothered her.

Sarutobi smiled at her as he took his hand away from her chin. "I'm just happy that your alright, Haruka." _Don't you dare do that again. _He thought as he patted her cheek then asked,

"Are you well enough to resum your duties?"

"Yes. I just need to get dressed."

"Are you going to cut your hair again?" The man asked suddenly, he had never liked it when she cut her hair and he was sure to throw a fit if she did it again. She picked up one of the long silken strands hanging over her shoulder and studied it. As much as it got in her way she had kinda missed having long hair.

"Not really, I think I'll trim it a few inches shorted so it does'nt get in my way." Sarutobi didn't look too happy with her reply but said nothing for the moment. Although he was dying to know just how short a few inches was going to be.

She sat there a second before finally asking, "How many know about what happened out in the forest?" She had a calculating look on her face as she looked at them all. What was she thinking? Sarutobi wondered.

"More than half of the people in this room know about what happened out there. And many more outside this room."

"Here is what I want you to do, I want you to place anyone who knows about what happened out there, under chunin level; under a genjutsu, you will not erase their memories, you will hide them so that they can regain them in time. I do not need the hassel of having to explain my actions everytime I do something, it will only hinder me in the future and this will keep the enemy from doing any harm to the genin if they can't remember anything then they can't sell me out." Haruka said as she wound the strand of hair around her finger.

Sarutobi sighed while everyone else gasped in shock, what was she talking about? Hide their memories? Was she insane? "I also want you to gather all of the chunin and jounin in the room down the hall in thirty minutes for a debriefing. I suppose it's about time the shinobi of the village finally knew who really runs this village, don't you Sarutobi?" She said as the elderly man stood up.

Iruka jumped to his feet intent on asking what was going on when the old man bowed to the girl and said, "As you wish lady Hokage." After that the world seemed to turn pitch black.


	7. say what!

She walked into the large room after taking a bath and trimming her hair so that it fell just a little past the middle of her back, the damp strands were in a thick braid, and she was wearing a white shirt with long black and white striped sleeves on, faded jeans, and....no shoes what so ever. Was she trying to catch a cold? Kakashi wondered irritably as he and the rest of the nins waited for her to say something. It was shocking just how different she seemed as she walked into the room with Ibiki right behind her.

The tall man stayed directly behind her as her slender legs ate up the distance across the floor. "Good evening ladies and gents. I'm sure that your all wondering just why you have been called here so quickly, I'll answer any of your questions that I can all you have to do is ask." She said with a smile as she sat down in the Hokage's cushy red chair and crossed her arms across her small breasts. Iruka was still in shock or he would have been the first person to ask her something.

Unfortunatly someone else asked instead. "Who are you? What are you doing in Lord Hokage's chair?" one man all but yelled. She cocked her head to the left and leaned her arm on her leg and rested her chin on her palm as she reguarded the man. Of all the disrespectful curs she had to get one of the men who had crushed her throat in almost three weeks ago. She gave the man a milisous smile, her small fangs showing as her lips curved upward.

The man's eyes widened and he took a step back as he seemed to realise who she was. "I am your Hokage, and you will show some respect when you speak to me." _Or I'll kill you just for fun._ She thought as the man turned red and started to sputter as another nin came forward.

"What do you mean? Your our Hokage, your just a little girl!" The man shouted. She flinched at the sheer loudness of his voice as Ibiki stepped forward and glared at the man.

"Keep your voice down, your hurting hime's ears." He snapped at the man. The guy snarled at him as she sat back in her chair and waited for the two to stop their pissing contest.

"My name is Haruka Uzumaki, I was six years old when the third Hokage stepped down and made me his replacement, however I asked him to stay in office merely as a figure head since you all trust him so much. But I have been the one running the village since that time, Ibiki served as a witness the day I was sworn in. As for my being a girl, and a child has nothing to do with anything and both are no ones buisness."

"Your the Kyuubi brat." Another person, a woman this time, spat at her. Fury flashing in her dark eyes, she would not serve the monster that had killed her parents! Haruka gave the woman a sad smile.

"Yes." She said honestly. The woman's hand went for the weapons pouch, Haruka was up out of the seat and in the womans face in the blink of an eye, her small hand grabbing the woman's wrist and twisted her arm behind her back, forcing her to her knees on the floor for everyone to see.

"Let me make one thing clear to all of you. The demon sealed inside of me is well contained, however if you cause serious physical and mental harm upon me it will get out, if you kill me it will get out.-" She twisted the woman's arm a little more, she could almost hear the bones bending in her grip.

"My life has become your shield. And yet you constantly flirt with death when ever you attack me. I have suffered through much for your sakes, all I ask in return is that you bear with my presence until someone else manages to destroy me for you, because that is the only way you will be safe from harm. I understand your feelings about the demon. It killed many precious people close to each and every one of your hearts, I will not ask you to like me, or even to care about me, but I will ask that you be civil to me." Haruka said as she let the woman go.

"I will never forgive you for the harm you have done to the village or the people that you have killed!" the woman snarled at her. Haruka gave her an angelic smile. How cute, the bitch thought that she was apoligizing to them all.

"I think your hearing things honey. I never said I was sorry for anything. Because I have done nothing to be sorry for. It was'nt me that killed your friends, or family. It was'nt me that nearly destroyed the village, it was the monster sealed inside of me. I am an innocent that was sacrificed so that all of you could live. If anyone should feel sorry, and guilty for something it's all of you." Haruka said as she turned and walked back to her seat. She didn't think that she could stomach looking into the eyes of someone who bore such hatred and resentment towards her any longer.

"What do you want us to do, lady Hokage?" Kakashi asked as he knelt in front of the chair. She smiled at him and reached out to tug on his hair as she spoke.

"I just need you all to keep doing what you've been doing. And if you wont do it for me then do it for the children out there, they are the next generation of shinobi, they need ot be protected and nurtured so that they, their skill, and abilities can grow to their full potential. Because they are our future, without them we are nothing. You may go." She said as she let her hand fall away from her sensei's hair and simply sat there in the throne like chair looking every bit as regal as a queen. Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds before some left the room, the ones who hated the fact that she breathed.

While the others in the room all moved forward one at a time to pledge their undying loyalty to her as their Hokage.


	8. do you like me, shino?

The continuation of the second part of the exam was back under way in just two in a half hours, and the genin gathered while the third Hokage-er rather former Hokage in most cases, gave his fromal speech in front of the kids. Sauske kept looking over at Haruka, with an odd look on his face, he looked almost worried. She had been very specific in her instructions to leave bits and pieces of the incident in their minds, while hiding others, mainly the parts where she had run into Orochimaru, fought and killed him.

As far as the kids remembered she had been attacked while trying to save her teammates from a really large really pissed bear and had looked like she had been torn to shreads, causing Sauske to grab her and bring her to the tower with Sakura in tow, both of them hysterical in thinking that she had been killed. She closely monitered the kids as the speech ended and several of them looked at her oddly, while others walked up to her and asked her if she was alright.

Shino was one of the ones who spoke with her first. "Haruka. Are you sure that you should be up so soon after being hurt?" He asked as he took up a position beside her and walked at a slower pace so that he could check up on the blond. He was suprised by the fact that she had taken such a beating and was still so dedicated to her team and training that she managed ot get out of bed and wanted to try and perticipate.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and felt herself figite nervously by flicking her finger nails together rapidly so that she could hear them softly click, click, click. Shino looked down at her hand and reached out to stop her, taking her hand in his effectively stilling the motion and silencing her little clicking sound. She looked down at his hand with a frown, he was still holding her hand. Why? He had stopped her from figiting, what was the point in still holding her hand-ohhhhh.

She blushed a pale pink color as soon as she realised that he was holding her hand subconsiously, not because she had been figiting but because he needed to touch her, because he liked her. Well that was definatly something that she had'nt been aware of. Shino was such a quiet, closed off person that he probably didn't know how to make his feelings known easily. "I'll be fine, but Shino could I ask you something?" Sha asked politly. He turned his head and looked at her.

She had such an adorable look on her face, his heart thudded in his chest as he waited to see what she wanted to know. "Do...you like me?" She asked curiously, the pink coloring her face darkened a bit, and his mouth went dry. She looked even cuter than Hinata when she was embaressed.

"Does the idea of my liking you, bother you?" He asked, his heart beating against his ribs like it was trying to excape fromm his chest. She shook her head no. The idea was'nt unappealing she just didn't know how to respond to his feelings. Shino smiled and laced his fingers together with hers. She looked down at their hands laced together and smiled nervously. Her heart doing a strange flip flop in her chest.

She placed her hand over her heart and caught him looking at her and quickly averted her eyes. Behind them Kiba and Hinata stared at the two. They made a cute couple. They really did, but Shino was'nt the only one who liked Haruka. Lee kinda dug her too, just not as much as he dug Sakura. And Kiba had to admit, Haruka was pretty damn cute. But Shino could do better than a loser like her.

Shino let go of her hand as they got to the top step of the metal stairs and watched her move along behind the other kids until she got her team and whedged herself between Sakura and Asuma, while Kakashi stood behind her with his arms crossed.

Sauske was the first to fight, and win. Next was Shikamaru vs some girl from the sound village, he won that one easily enough. Then it was Shino's turn to fight against one of the sound nins, he won that match without even breaking a sweat and as Haruka's name was called by the jounin refereeing the matches. Her opponite was Kiba, Shino turned to tell his teammate to go easy on her because of her wounds, and froze when he saw the gleeful look on the boys face. He was planning to hurt her! The bastard was planning to hurt his Haruka!

"Kiba." he said the dog nin's name warningly, Kiba gave him a quick grin and jumped down to the floor as Haruka came walking up, she had chosen to use the stairs instead of jumping. Shino reached out and grabbed her before she could pass him and cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him and tugged his jacket collar out of the way and pressed his lips against hers in a brief lingering kiss before letting her go.

"Good luck, Haruka." he said gently as he put his hand on her back, between her shoulder blades and gave her a gentle push toward the stairs. Ignoring the looks he was getting from everyone in the room. He gripped the railing as he readied himself to watch Haruka fight with his friend and prayed that Kiba would be merciful and not toy with her. But some how he doubted that the boy would be merciful, so he would just have to wait until Kiba returned to the team before he tore into him.


	9. the girl hokage's skills

Kakashi, like the rest of the jounin, decided to watch Haruka's match and see just what kind of Hokage she was. They already knew that she was strong, because of what she had done to Orochimaru, but they had no idea what her other skills were. So she had killed one of the legendary sanin, big deal. They could have done that too.....as long as they had a fucking army backing them. Still they were curious.

Just how strong was she? Everyone looked over at Kurinai and saw the woman frown, hn she looked worried. Not that any of them could blame her, they didn't really want any of their students in the ring with Haruka either. She'd tear any kid she went up against apart. Kiba was grinning like an idiot, he looked like he had just hit the jackpot. That was bad, that was really bad, Haruka seemed like a very calm and even tempered person but she was also a teenage girl, if Kiba pissed her off he might not walk out of the ring period.

Hayate looked at the girl, and then the boy this was'nt going to end well for the dog nin, but hopefully noone would be picking up pieces of his body like some of them had done with Orochimaru, picking up pieces was just too sickening.

Kiba let Akumaru out of his jacket and told him to stay out of the way as Hayate called the match to start. He grinned at Haruka as he let his eyes travel over her body. Wow she was'nt just cute, she was....sexy. She had just enough beauty to capture a mans attention and enough curves to hold a mans attention. A lethal combanation for an air head. He doubted she had even passed the genin exam without doing a little something extra to earn the passing grade.

"Your going down." He said with a grin. Haruka just gave him an 'oh yeah' look and crossed her arms, the fight was already over, Kiba was just too stupid to realise that he had stepped into something he could'nt get out of. That was okay though, she could help him see the error of his ways. He quiet and calm additude must have started to get on his nerves because one second he was grinning, the next he was gnashing his teeth and growling as he charged her head on.

She waited until the last second before side stepping out of his way, and karate chopped him on the back of his neck hitting his spine in such a way that he went down instantly. She grabbed him by the back of his jacket and lifted him up into a sitting upright position as he hacked and coughed, and settled his body against her leg so that the others in the room could see his face.

"What did you say about me going down?"

"I-I'll kill you for this, you bitch." Kiba snapped as he tried to regain control of his body, but he was too off kilter, his head ached and he was seeing double of everything.

Haruka gave him a sharp hit to the back of the head, causing him to puke all over the front of his jacket. "Your finished, Kiba. Accept it and continue your training." She said gently as she looked at Hayate, the man stepped in before Kiba could open his mouth again and called the match in her favor. She stayed perfectly still as the medics came to take Kiba away.

She walked by him a little ways before handing Akamaru to one of the medics and said to Kiba, "Good match." And walked away.

Shino blinked, then blinked again, Haruka had just take out Kiba with just two little hits...was this for real? In all the years that he had known her he had seen her struggle with every little thing, class, training, tying her shoes. She even struggled when she ate something, of course that was mostly because she had never been taught how to hold her silverwear or chopsticks properly.

Still seeing her take Kiba down like that was odd to him. When had she gotten so strong that she could do that to someone with so little effort? He was'nt the only one who was curious.

Shikamaru had watched the match knowing that something with the blond was'nt right, while everyone had been cheering for Kiba to kick the girl's ass, he had been analizing her movements, esspecially when her hands had been behind her back before Kiba had charged her, he had seen her gathing chakra in the hand that she had used to hit Kiba and noticed it for what it was. Some form of medical jutsu, since when had she ever payed enough attention in class to even know what medical jutsu was? She probably could'nt even spell it! And she was using it! Truely mind boggling.

The damn troublsome girl was keeping her talents hidden from them all. He sighed and leaned his elbow on the railing and rested his chin on his palm. _Stupid troublsome girl. _He thought with a wide yawn. And he had actally been worried about her too.

Shino grabbed Haruka as soon as she stepped onto the cat walk and wrapped his arms around her. His worry over the fight with Kiba finally gave his the strength to vocalise his thoughts. "Are you okay? Your not hurt right? I'll kill him. As soon as the medics leave his side I'll kill him, and then he wont ever bully you again."

"Because your going to kill him."

"Thats right."

"You do realise that I'm the one who won right?"

".........Let me kill him and get out of my system would you?" Shino growled as he framed her face with his hands. Haruka smiled at him. He had been worried, he should'nt have been, she was used to violence and abuse, hell she and those two were old room mates, still knowing that he had been so worried about her that he was threatening ot kill Kiba touched her deeply.


End file.
